Explosive shell.



S. W. RUSHWIURE.

EXPLOSIVE SHELL.

APPLICATEON FILEDJUHEI5.1918.

PatentedMar. 18, 1919.

INVE/VTOR vSamuel WRushmm-e shell is still above the SAMUEL W. RUSHMORE,OF PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

EXPLOSIVE SHELL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

Application filed June 15, 1918. 7 Serial No. 240,121.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL W. RUSH- MORE, acitizen of the United States, and resident of Plainfield, in the countyof Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Explosive Shells, of which the following is aspecification.

High explosive shells employed in modern Warfare are usually exploded bygraze or percussion fuses. In soft or wet ground the shells dependingupon their size and velocity and the type of fuse employed, penetratefrom a foot to twenty feet or more before exploding and the explosiveforce is largely dissipated in scattering the earth to form craters offrom a few feet to fifty feet in diameter. Therefore, against personneland equipment, these shells are almost ineffective and the danger areais but little greater than that of the craters.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a shell with anextension to the forward end 80 arranged as to cause the det-' onationof the explosive charge while the ground or, at least, before it haspenetrated to an appreciable depthq i Attempts have been made'to employextension pieces fitted with extended firing pins to be actuated by theusual contact'button, but it has been found that, With any considerableextension, the firing pin or rod is subject to an enormous set back 01'inertia stress induced by the tremendous rate of acceleration when theshell is fired froin the gun so that attempts to lengthen the fuse byincreasing the length of the firing pin have proved to be failures. 1

My invention involves a combination of parts whereby all oftheseditlicultiesareavoided and I have succeededin combining standardtried and tested elements capable of producing the desired result Withabsolute certainty.

7 My invention depends upon certain fundamental discoveries which I willdescribe in connection with the particular size of shell and particularapparatus which has been actually tested by me under service conditions.

-These discoveries are- First, a standard six inch shell which isapproximately 22 inches long, will carry an elongated projection or noseas long or longer than the shell itself and th1s pro ection can be madeheavy enough to stand all set back and stress of regular service firingWithout materially affecting the accuracy of firing. In a particularcase, firing at long range the service shells provided with my long fusewould group within a circle not more than two or three times the circleshown by groups of the standard shells with standard fuse fired underthe same conditions.

Second, placing of percussion fuses at the end of such pro ection is assafe and free from liability of premature explosion as when the fuse isdirectly on the tip of the shell. L

Third, it has been denied that an explosive wave of condensation will bepropagated in air fast enough to produce the desired efiect in that Ican, by suitable arrangements, add to the compression wave, a shot guneffect due to fiyingparticles of metal, the speed of which is entirelyindependent of air pressure propagation and is in fact rapid enough sothat for my purposes it may be considered as instantaneous.

These three discoveries make my invention possible.

The apparatus employed is substantially standard and hence thedescription of the device as actually constructed by me may be verybrief. A device substantially as used by me is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shell having theproportions of a 6 inch shell with my fusein position thereon;

Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal sections showing the standard elementwhich I employ and the way in which I combine them, Fig. :3 showing theshell end and booster arrangements and Fig. 3, the contact fusearrangements, the intermediate parts being broken away; and

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing a modified form of the parts shown inFig. 3.

The shell 1, say 22 inches in length is provided with a fuse tube 2which, as before explained, may be approximately as longor even longerthan the shell. The fuse tube is secured to the shell by the enlargedbase 3 exterior-1y screw-threaded at 4 to lit the standard shell. Thispart of the construca fuse, but I have discovered tion is standard as tothe drawn steel-shell 5 square inch; also the drawn metal cup 8 securedto a washer 9 preferably by soldering and separated from the tetryl by acompressed-washer 10. The cup 8 is designed to receive the rear end ofthe ordinary standard fuse and I preferably utilize such constructionfor my present purpose. It consists of a brass shell 11 inclosed by acopper cap 12 containing a charge of fulminate of mercury 13 protectedby an inner shell 14:,

preferably of drawn copper. The latter is held inplace by a felt washer15 slightly j compressed by the brass bushing 16. The

' of the mark III type, the rear end comprising arts identical withparts 10 to 16 previous y described. In this complete fuse,

the fulminate charge 13 is detonated in the 'usual way. The mechanismfor this purpose includes a shell 20 containing a small charge offulminate 21, protected by a shell 22, held in place by felt washer 23.Alined with the center of the charge is a firing pin 24 secured toplunger 25 having a contact head 26 normally held in forward position bya metallic ribbon 27 spirally wound between the head and the washer 28and provided with centrifugal weight 29 whereby it is thrown ofi. andunwound as soon as the shell leaves the gun. The enormous strain of theset back having been resisted'by the metallic ribbon and the latterremoved, the plunger is held in its forward position only by the shearpin 30, which will be sheared oif' upon contact of the head 26 with eventhe slightest obstruction.

' The firing pin sets off the fulminate 21 which detonates the fulminatecharge 18,- which shatters the copper shell and brass casing, drivingthe particles thereof with instantaneous and effective.

to have standard fuse arrangements on the enormous velocity, likeacharge of shot, rearwardly down the passage or gun barrel 18 and isconcentrated by the cone passage 17 upon the fulminate charge 13 whichex- 'plodes the booster charge.

As before stated, my experiments demonstrate that the shot gun effect issubstantially It enables me front end of the long fuse tube withouthaving any physical operating parts such as a long firing pin tointroduce the complications which have rendered prior proposed devicesinoperative.

In Fig. 4 I have shown the passage 18' contracted-to the same diameteras the brass case of the deto'nator so 'as to reduce the proportions ofthe bore more nearly to those of a rifle, with the case contacting withthe breech which is thickened as at 30 to reinforce it against theexplosion and to insure that the shot will be confined and take effectentirely rearward. This makes possible the use of a thinner barrel forthe intermediate portion of the fuse tube.

,Tests with a 6 inch shell show that with the above describedcombination of parts the shell will explode well above the ground evenwhen fired into ordinary soft earth.

I claim; I i

1. An ordnance shell having a projection secured to the forward endthereof extending axially, and formed with a longitudinal borein'combination with a contact fuse having a detonating' charge inalinement with the bore of said projection 'and', at the rear end asimilar detonating charge in operative relation to the booster charge ofthe shell,- and communicating with and in alinement with the saidpassage;

2. A structure such as describedin claim 1, having the passage to thebooster deto-" nator coned to concentrate the effects of the explosionof the fuse detonator.

3. An ordnance shell having a projection p at theforward end thereofextending axi- 95 ally and formed with a longitudinahpas sage, incombination with a contact fuse having its deton'atingcharge inoperativerelation to the forward endof said passage, and a seconddetonating charge at the rear end of said passage in operative relationto the explosive charge of the shell.

4. An ordnance shell having a projection at the forward end thereofformed with a longitudinal; passagetherethrough, in com bination with acontact fuse mounted on the forward end ofsaidl projection and having adetonating charge in operative relation to the forward end of saidpassage; and a similar detonating charge in operative relation to -therear end' of said pieslsage and to the explosive charge of the s e l.

5. An ordnance shell having-a projection at the forward GIldflZlIGIBOfformed with a 115 longitudinal passage threthroughpin combination with acontact fuse 'mounted on the forward end of said projection and hav-'ing a detonati'ng charge inoperative rela-. tionto the forward end ofsaid passage; 120 and asecond detonating charge in operative relation tothe rear end of said passage and to the explosive charge of the shell;the walls of said projection, the passage thercthrough, the contact fuseand the 125 detonating charges being substantially symmetrical withrespect to the axis of the shell and having their axes in alinement witheach other and with said axis of the shell so that the centrifugalforces due to 0 axial rotation of the shell when it is fired, will bebalanced in each cross-section of the device. i

6. An ordnance shell having .a projection at the forward end thereofformed with a longitudinal passage therethrough, in combination with acontact fuse mounted on theforward end of said projection and having adetonating charge in operative relation to the forward end of saidpassage;

and a second de'tona'ting charge in operative relation to the rear endof said passage and to the explosive charge of the shell, saidprojection being tapered from the shell toward the forward end and, atthe outer end, having its Walls of material and thickness sufficient toconfine the fuse detonator explosion against material, lateralexpansion.

7. An ordnance shell having an explosive charge and means for detonatingit, said means including an axially arranged tubular projection at theforward end of the shell, a det nating charge in alinement with the rearend of the passage through said projection and in operative relation tothe explosive charge in the shell; and, in alinement with the forwardend of said passage, another detonating charge and means for detonatingthe latter including a contact firingpin, the total distance from theshell detonating charge to the forward contact surface of the firing pinbeing approximately as great as the length of the shell and the lengthof the firing pin covering only a practically negligible portion of saiddistance.

8. An ordnance shell having an explosive charge, a detonating charge inoperative re lation thereto and a contact fuse having another detonatingcharge and means in eluding a short firing pin for detonating thelatter,in combination with a tubular forward extension for the shell of smalldiameter, light weight and considerable length as compared with theshell, said ex- I tension having said contact fuse secured at theforward end thereof and having a tubular cavity extending in a straightline from'the shell detonator to the fuse detonator, the length of saidpassage being predetermined with reference to the normal velocity of theshell for the purpose and with the result of exploding the shell"-substantially in advance of the object which operates the firing pin. iit 9. An ordnance shell having an explosive charge and means fordetonating it, said means including a tubular member; detonating chargein aliuement with the rear end of the passage through Said tubularmember and inoperative relation to the explosive charge of the shell;and, in aline' erence to the object which operates the firing pin.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, this 14th day of June, A. D. 1918.

SAMUEL W. RUSHMORE.

